My intention is to present him to my kids, unashamedly, as a, quote, "real person," unquote, until my wife and I believe that they are to the point to where they need to know what the "real" reality of Santa is, what the tradition is all about ... FYI, we explain to them every Christmas that the reason people exchange gifts is to remember the Gift that God gave to us so long ago ... and why we are, as I said in the original post, entrusting this wonderful and quite real thing to them to carry on.
You don't have to worry about informing your kids. There will always be another kid (whose parents are like the author of this thread) that will spill the beans.
Just wait til they find out about "sex" from a third grader. That's always a day to look forward to! :)
We do Santa Claus here, but I also tell my kids that even if there wasn't Santa Claus, presents, the Christmas Tree, etc, we would still be celebrating Christmas. I've also told them how lucky we are to be in America where we can celebrate Christmas in front of everyone. When they started understanding about other countries, I have told them that people cannot read their Bibles or celebrate Christmas in public because it is against the law.
I've tried to instill the real reason for the season is Christ, and we are very lucky to be able to celebrate it with presents, a tree, Christmas lights, and of course Santa Claus.